7 THINGS YOU SHOULD REMOVE FROM YOUR RESUME
Does your Resume need a good "Spring Cleaning"? The first step to updating a Resume that has gotten stale is to simply remove a lot of irrelevant and outdated material.
According to "SheKnows," the following pointers will give you a good start on making sure your Resume is relevant and up to date. Here's where to start "pruning":
1. Your GPA in school
If you were valedictorian of your university, you can make a note of that. You may even want to include the fact that you graduated Phi Beta Kappa. But a GPA from 2005 simply doesn’t matter now that it’s after 2015. Including this information can also make it appear that you have poor judgment about what is relevant and the results you have achieved since then.
2. Classes you’ve taken
Similarly, unless you’re applying to a job where coursework has helped you achieve some sort of practical career transition (e.g., taking software development courses when you are seeking a new role as a programmer), your future employer probably isn’t particularly interested in an experienced hire’s extracurricular enrichment classes.
3. Languages you speak (even fluently)
Languages are a great skill in life, but unless you’re applying to work in a position where a foreign language is helpful or required, putting languages on your Resume can make you look like you’re unfocused on the job at hand. Save some more space to describe your recent career accomplishments instead. If you do believe your language skills are important for the role, be sure to include them, but leave out any languages where you don’t have business-level proficiency.
4. Summer internships
If you’ve been in the workforce for several years, summer internships fall into the category of completely irrelevant. It may be difficult to cut out prestigious internships you were proud of (or that you believe make you look interesting), but the truth of the matter is that putting a summer internship on your Resume at this stage of your career may make you look like you exercise poor judgment about what is important… and what is ancient history.
5. References
If someone is interested in your references, they will ask. You also don’t need to write “References upon request” since that is also something a recruiter or hiring manager will assume. After all, when’s the last time someone applied for a job they wanted and refused to provide references?
6. The number of years of experience you have
The amount of experience you have only matters with respect to the position you’re currently applying for. Too often, people believe that the higher the number of years of experience, the better. If you were employed over a decade ago as a researcher but have not worked in that field for the past 15 years, there’s no need to count all your working years as “years of experience” in an executive summary. It’s simply not necessary.
7. Your graduation dates (depending on your age)
Sadly, age discrimination is alive and well. Though you never want to assume the worst of people, your graduation date is not necessary unless you graduated recently. Your work experience and credentials should speak for themselves and anyone who is worried about being passed over because of their age should simply eliminate the years on your résumé that are attached to your college and/or graduate degrees.
Making sure you trim the fat when you update your Resume can be as important as deciding what to put in. It’s important to tailor your document to individual jobs that you’re applying for, and it’s a lot easier to do that succinctly after you’ve taken out things that are irrelevant and/or outdated.
